29 October National Holiday: Short trip to Geyikbayiri

I had 4 days off for the national holiday, so I decided to give a break to my bouldering efforts and clip some bolts at Geyikbayiri. My plan was to climb two days on Saturday and Sunday, then have a rest day, and then have a final climbing day on Tuesday. 

Working Belladonna 7c+

I am not in my best lead shape now, so I said to myself: why not look at the moves for some hard route instead of trying to finish a route? I had some previous projects in my mind, however either weather was not suitable, or the style was too off for me. So, I settled down to the  beautiful 7c+ face climbing in the Koridor sector, named Belladonna. Some say it might be harder than 7c+. I wanted to get on it to see it myself, since the route was in shade, and the style is almost vertical, with small holds, and a crimpy crux at the middle. 

Belladonna, 7c+ at Koridor sector

The first day, I could figure out most of the moves in my first try, and put the quickdraws. Then, I gave a second try on the route, in which I settled down the middle hardest crux. The route actually has three cruxes. A lower crux, which might be harder for folks with shorter arms, and a middle crux which is quite sick, with small crimps and small feet, ending up on a really big jug, and then there is an upper crux after resting on the jug. The upper crux is also no slouch, and one can easily fall there after climbing through the lower cruxes. 

By the way, I could climb with my broken finger, but pressing on small crimps made it bleed a bit more, and I felt that I could not use the index finger at its max strength. But ok, I could move on the route at least. 

Pharoes Curse - 7b: One of the worst (or best?) tufa climbs in Geyikbayiri

I left the quickdraws on the route, and the day after that, I switched gears to a different style at Trebenna East. After warming up on a couple of some classic 6a+/6b+ routes, I wanted to revisit one of my past crushes: Pharoes Curse: 7b tufa which clearly is not my perfect style. This is a mono tufa, beautiful line, but a badly placed bolt at the very crux of the route ruins the whole experience. I think the route equipper planned to go from the left of the tufa, however, the climb from that direction seems a lot harder than 7b, and it is extremely hard to put a quickdraw unless you use a beta-stick. 

I could climb quite well until that bolt, but since there was no way I could clip that bolt at the midst of the crux, I just used my "take" option to have a look. About two years before, I found a bouldery solution for the crux, which goes directly from the tufa. This time, I wanted to double check if there is another solution that goes with the line of that badly placed bolt, but no... I mean, for my height, a 7b'ish solution does not look possible. It would probably be at least 7c+ if there is one. But using the tufa, from the right, there is a solution and with a kneepad on the right leg, you can rest quite well before the crux, too. 

That attempt was quite physical, so I just called it a day, cleaned up the draws, and enjoyed the great Geyikbayiri scene with Pelin, having some coffee and mom cake. It really feels good to be able to retreat sometimes. But, make no mistakes, I'll surely return to that sick tufa sooner or later. 

Working Belladonna on 3rd day

I rested a day after two days of climbing, and I was back on Koridor sector to try Belladonna. We went relatively early, around 11:30. I was feeling still very tired at the beginning of the day. I only could climb three very easy routes up to 6a+, and those clearly were not enough for a proper warm up. With no surprise, my first try was kind of a flash-pump effort in which my body just could take in the stimulus to try something hard. I retreated at the beginning of the crux, worked the moves up the chains, and lowered down. 

Apo (Benna) also wanted to try the route. Apparently, he tried it some time ago, but can't remember all the moves. However, he suggested a better rest below the crux, on the right side of the route. My resting position was on the left side of the route, on the side-pull pocket-like holds, but I just could not recover anything there at all. At my second try, I tried my own resting position, but I was quite ok: could do the hard clip below the crux, and fell at the last move of the crux. But then, I inspected the resting position on the right, and I was convinced that it was better. You basically stand on one of the sloping ledges, and use the holes on the left and above to rest. There is even a little bit of knee support because your right foot is stepping quite high, and the left one is below, on a sloper ledge foothold near the previous quickdraw.

My third try was the last one. I knew I had to go all in at this try, because this was my last day, and the last try of this small trip. I climbed the below parts quite good, and did rest on the right below the crux. I could also do the clip before entering the crux, since I made that quickdraw longer by adding two draws to the permanent draw. I felt suddenly very strong on the crux. Could execute each move quite strongly, and I passed the crux. I had a short rest on the jugs after the crux, but then the upper crux was waiting for me. There, after making the clip from the two finger pocket on the small tufa, I mixed things a bit. I was confused about my left feet just before the jug, which marked literally the end of the route. I was so pumped, and unfortunately fell while going to that jug. 

I don't know what happened there. A small loss of focus, mind wandering elsewhere, or just a pure technical mistake? The left foot hold I was supposed to use was a bit below, and it was not a very safe one. I chose to high step on a sloping ledge instead. But that foot hold threw me out of the wall even further, and with those pumped arms, I would not be able to pull in. Therefore, I tried to undo that move. But that costed me a lot, because I was at a level of pump where I could not tolerate a single small mistake. Then I was suddenly flying through the thin air... 

Feelings of frustration, mixed with feelings of excitement, because honestly, I was not expecting to progress that far, that quick. But still, the remainder of the day I was thinking what happened there. I guess I will never know exactly. But what I know is: I fought hard. I gave three hard tries on this hard route in a day, and I was almost doing it at the final one. That kind of makes me happy: being able to try this route three times. Ok, but I am still feeling sorry that I could not finish it. Leaving the route for the next time, hoping that I will not forget my beta. 

Boulder Session in Barek Mountain -Broken finger nail

With Guner, we could reserve a half day for a quick visit to Barek mountain with the hope of making some progress on our projects. I had Skoptoma - 7B and crossing the bridge 7A+ in my mind. 

It was again a very cold day up in Bozkir, however as the day moved on, the sun was so bright, and the wind was quite low when we got there around 14:00. We warmed up in Masa Kaya, it was quite hot, and everything was slippery. 

We then went to the new block to try Skoptoma, and Dombisot 6C to the left of it. 

Oh shute! I broke a finger nail during on the of the warm-up tries. I've got very confused since I could not assess very well if it was ok to continue climbing or not. I taped the finger first, but it was absolutely impossible to hold on to the small crimps with tape, so I untaped it and gave it some good tried. But this simply was not the day for it, so we just moved on. 

Finger nail broke while trying Skoptoma 7B

Went to Prometheus: tried crossing the bridge. Can't get the right big pinch (the right-most hold marked with red in the photo). Need much more stronger lock off power on the left arm. I do not know if this is caused by poor beta, or is it just my body is coming off from a sub-peak and I am feeling significantly weaker these days. 

I then flashed Deve - Cuce 6c, and the left-most 6b on the block behind. We then called it a day, and went back home. 

Crossing the Bridge 7A+ (red holds), Deve Cuce 6C (starting with the same holds, then following the yellow holds). 

4x4 Training and Rest day

Rest on Sunday

Yesterday I was a nice Sunday chilling out at home.  I was quite tired, but still motivated. I could do the following as a rest day activity: 

- An outdoor run: 3.67 km, 155 bpm average heart rate. 

- Some easy body tension drills using the trx, and 2x2 turkish getups with a 8 kg kettlebell. 

- 15 mins of light yoga before going to bed. 

4x4 Training on Monday

Today, on Monday, I woke up even more tired than yesterday, but it was better as the day moved on. I went to the spray wall close to the home around 11:30 to do some 4x4 training. I quickly setup 4 easy routes which were around 5c+ - 6a interval. The routes were easy, but the training plan was a bit different than the 4x4's I tried before: Here it is: 

- 1 Rep: Climbing the 4 routes without any rest in between

- 1 Set: 4 Reps without any rest in between.

So, in one set, you climb 16 routes actually. Then, you try to do 4 sets of the above sets with 5-6 minutes rest in between. This would mean climbing a total of 64 routes per session. This was the type of 4x4 recommended by Fikret, so I would like to have a go at it. The other 4x4's I tried before used harder routes, but you only climbed 4 of the routes, then rested 3-5 minutes and then done that 4 times, resulting in 16 routes in total. 

This time, I could only do 3 sets (climbed 48 routes). But even that was quite a bit volume for me. I know that hard 4x4 sessions are even harder to recover from. On the other hand, I am quite motivated to go for a short outdoor bouldering session on Wednesday, so, all the plans are setup for that thing for the moment. I want to leave something in the tank for that. 

Bouldering at Barek Mountain

Ankara really started feeling cold. When I woke up, the temperature outside was only 2 degrees Celcius. I said, wtf? But the plan is already made, the team was strong, and stacked, so off we went. 

Barek mountain is the new bouldering area that we just discovered in the beginning of 2024. We already had Koprukoy bouldering region below the Barek mountain. We went to Koprukoy for years, just staring at that mountain and trying to figure out if the dark spots on the mountain was just trees, or rocks? 

I think it was around last January. Emre just pulled the trigger and went to have a look at. Since there was wind tribunes at the top of the mountain, there were already well established roads which made the access easier. And you know what? The place was fabulous. Some of the best bouldering region laid at an 1.5 hour of driving distance from our home at Ankara, and yet we were the ones to complain that Ankara was some of the worst cities to live for a climber. Now, eat this!... Ankara just started to become one of the best places to live - well.. let's say for a boulderer - which is not bad since we're hungry for any type of climbing. 

I believe I can't get into the full details, but let me suffice with dropping a link to the topos that we maintain in 27 crags.

On this day, the weather was surprisingly warm because of the lack of wind, and the bright Bozkir sun. Our day started at the Masa Kaya with some warm up. Then with Fikret and Erkin, we went to another block recently established. 

Trying Dombisot 7A and Skoptoma 7B 

I suddenly fell in love with the slightly overhanging crimpy 7B that Zorbey climbed recently on this new block. The name of the route is Skoptoma. The block is not very high, and the problem is just 5-6 moves. I fell at my last try, failing to close my right hand crimp, but I feel it's not very far. So, that entered to my list of short term projects already. 

On the left corner of the rock, there is another problem - Dombosit, which is around 6c/6c+ if you do it standing, or 7A if you do it sit start. I also worked on that, but could not link the moves yet. It has an unusual move to a high sloper pocket with your right hand, from a sloper pinch on your left hand. Quite sick. 

Trying Crossing the bridge 7A+ at Prometheus

The day ended at the Prometheus sector. The weather was a lot cooler here. I must say, cold enough that it started making our fingers numb. Crossing the bridge is a relatively new problem. It's graded at 7a+, but I must say: that one felt really hard for me, or maybe I was a bit more tired in the second half of the day. 

Trying Crossing the Bridge - 7A+. Photo: Guner Donmez

I gave some tries, and could make most of the moves in isolation, but I was far from linking them in one session. My main problem was with the move that required a far left heel/toe hook, and then apply so much body tension to reach out to a far above jug with the left hand. 

This route just threw a certain kind of weakness to my face: lack of lateral body tension. Being able to hold on to small holds is something, but then being able to steer your body from those holds when your hands and feet are so far from each other, is another thing. 

I believe that kind of specific strength will never be attained working on a fingerboard. What type of training can make you stronger on that? Well.. not sure for now. But what is for sure is: trying those type of sick moves will certainly train you for that. Maybe some board climbing, or routes setup specific for this type of challenge. 

Congratulations to Fikret on Prometheus sit - 7C+

In the meanwhile, Fikret first did the standing version, and then finally the sit start version of the overhanging project on the same block where "Crossing the bridge" is at. He called the problem "Prometheus". Fikret is at another level for sure, and it was simply amazing and inspiring to watch him do that. The evening light was amazing, and I could take a few cool shots of him on the route. 

Fikret on Prometheus sit - 7C+

* Bozkir: This is what we call the region around the internal part of Turkey. In Turkish, Bozkir means a piece of land without much trees, high plains and nothing else. 

Into a New Beginning

Here we go.. 

On this day, I start my blog about climbing. This will be all about climbing, including my training log, the routes I tried and failed, hopefully completed, micro/macro beta. About friendship (which I believe rarely exists around climbing partners), and all that. 

... and yes, I am bold enough to give my first and last name to the blog address, refraining to add something like alperclimbing, etc. I mean, apart from climbing, what do I really do? In terms of sports, I do a few more things, but make no mistakes: they are all there to support the climbing sickness. 

The choice of language is English to make this is accessible to the people around the world.

I start this also with the hope that it can bring some order into my otherwise chaotic training routine which started being a bit all over the place recently. That was intentional, though. I believe being all over the place at some certain periods really helps bring back the motivation, and explore your strengths and weaknesses. 

Now, here I am, finally starting to feel some motivation.